Mao ZedongTyler sorenson

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, born in 1893, was a Chinese communist and founding father of the People's Republic of China. He governed it as Chairman of the Communist Party of China. His Marxist theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism.

Great Leap Forward

On October 1, 1949, proclaimed the People's Republic of China a one party state, ruled by the Communist Party of China. In 1957, he launched the Great Leap Forward campaign to transition China from an agrarian country to a dominantly industrial country.

Great Leap Forward

In total, the campaign led to a famine. The famine caused between 15 and 45 million deaths.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

In 1966, he initiated the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

This program began 10 years of eliminating "counter- revolutionary" elements of Chinese society.

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

These 10 years were marked by violent class struggle, destruction of cultural artifacts, and unprecedented elevation of Mao Zedong's personality cult.

Summary

Mao Zedong suffered a series of heart attacks in 1976 and died in September. His supporters credit him for building China into a world power and increasing the Chinese population from 500 million to 900 million.

Summary

However, he is a dictator comparable to Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. He severely damaged the Chinese culture and tradition and was a perpetrator of systematic human rights abuse.

Summary

All in all, Mao Zedong was responsible for 40-70 million deaths, the most deaths caused by a ruler in human history.